Memory of medical scenarios for end-of-life support preferences

  1. Elvira García-Bajos 1
  2. Malen Migueles 1
  1. 1 Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
    info

    Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

    Lejona, España

    ROR https://ror.org/000xsnr85

Revista:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Año de publicación: 2018

Número: 21

Páginas: 1-13

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2018.60 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Resumen

We studied memory of health scenarios for end-of-life support decisions and stability of life support preferences. Psychology students (n = 36, age M = 27.25, SD = 6.21, 64% females) were administered the Life Support Preferences Questionnaire to assess their memory of six medical scenarios with different prognoses, care treatment, and end-of-life support choices. Recall, recognition, confidence and decision stability were assessed immediately and one month later. Correct recall decreased and incorrect recall increased from immediate to long-term recall, F(2, 68) = 74.38, p < .001, η2p = .69. In recall, participants spontaneously gave false information consistent with prior knowledge of illnesses and medical scenarios. Participants who had suffered a disease or serious accident did worse on correct recall, F(1, 34) = 6.59, p = .015, η2p = .16, and had more errors, F(1, 34) = 4.68, p = .038, η2p = .12, than participants who had not. In the recognition test there were no differences between hits and false alarms, showing the difficulty in discriminating between true and false contents. Confidence was greater for hits than for false alarms, F(1, 34) = 10.86, p = .002, η2p = .24, but this subjective measure did not seem to be a good predictor of accuracy because confidence was greater than the mean value for hits (p = .001, d = 1.74) and for false alarms (p = .001, d = 0.96). Long-term memory was quite poor and biased, but life support preferences did not change much.

Información de financiación

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elvira García-Bajos. Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad del País Vasco. Avenida Tolosa 70, San Sebastián, 20018 (Spain). E-mail: elvira.garcia@ehu.es This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de la Economía y la Competitividad (MINECO) under Grant PSI2015-63709-P (MINECO/FEDER, EU) and the Universidad del País Vasco under Grant GIU15/02

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Allmark, P. (2002). Death with dignity. Journal of Medical Ethics, 28, 255–257. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.28.4.255
  • Auriemma, C. L., Nguyen, C. A., Bronheim, R., Kent, S., Nadiger, S., Pardo, D., & Halpern, S. D. (2014). Stability of end-of-life preferences: A systematic review of the evidence. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174, 1085–1092. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.1183
  • Barrio-Cantalejo, I. M., Bailón-Gómez, R. M., Cámara-Medina, M. C., Carmona-Cabezas, M. A., Martínez Cruz, M. E., & Quesada-Lupiáñez, P. (2008). Validación del cuestionario de preferencias de soporte vital (LSPQ) para su uso en la población española [Validation of the life-support preferences questionnaire (LSPQ) for its use in Spain]. Atención Primaria, 40, 345–349. https://doi.org/10.1157/13124127
  • Barrio-Cantalejo, I. M., Simón-Lorda, P., Molina-Ruiz, A., Herrera-Ramos, F., Martínez-Cruz, E., Bailon-Gómez, R. M., … Peinado-Gorlat, P. (2013). Stability over time in the preferences of older persons for life-sustaining treatment. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 10, 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-012-9417-4
  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory –II. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation. [Spanish transl. Inventario de depresión de Beck (2nd Ed.). Manual. Buenos Aires: Paidós; 2006]
  • Beland, D. K., & Froman, R. D. (1995). Preliminary validation of a measure of life support preferences. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 27, 307–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-5069.1995.tb00893.x
  • Berntsen, D. (2002). Tunnel memories for autobiographical events: Central details are remembered more frequently from shocking than for happy experiences. Memory & Cognition, 30, 1010–1020. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194319
  • Bookwala, J., Coppola, K. M., Fagerlin, A., Ditto, P. H., Danks, J. H., & Smucker, W. D. (2001). Gender differences in older adults’ preferences for life-sustaining medical treatments and end-of-life values. Death Studies, 25, 127–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481180126202
  • Brown, A. D., Addis, D. R., Romano, T. A., Marmar, C. R., Bryant, R. A., Hirst, W., & Schacter, D. L. (2014). Episodic and semantic components of autobiographical memories and imagined future events in post-traumatic stress disorder. Memory, 22, 595–604. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.807842
  • Brown, S. C., & Park, D. C. (2002). Role of age and familiarity in learning health information. Educational Gerontology, 28, 695–710. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601270290099723
  • Chirlaque, M. D., Salmerón, D., Ardanaz, E., Galcerán, J., Martínez, R., Marcos-Grágera, R., … Navarro, C. (2010). Cancer survival in Spain: Estimate for nine major cancers. Annals of Oncology, 21, iii21–iii29. https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdq082
  • Cohen, G., & Java, R. (1995). Memory for medical history: Accuracy of recall. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 9, 273–288. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350090402
  • Conway, M. A., Singer, J. A., & Tagini, A. (2004). The self and autobiographical memory: Correspondence and coherence. Social Cognition, 22, 491–529. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.22.5.491.50768
  • Craik, F. I., & McDowd, J. M. (1987). Age differences in recall and recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 474–479. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.13.3.474
  • D’Argembeau, A., & van der Linden, M. (2004). Phenomenal characteristics associated with projecting oneself back into the past and forward into the future: Influence of valence and temporal distance. Consciousness and Cognition, 13, 844–858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2004.07.007
  • Denton, M., Prus, S., & Walters, V. (2004). Gender differences in health: A Canadian study of the psychosocial, structural and behavioral determinants of health. Social Science & Medicine, 58, 2585–2600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2003.09.008
  • Ditto, P. H., Danks, J. H., Smucker, W. D., Bookwala, J., Coppola, K. M., Dresser, R., … Zyzanski, S. (2001). Advance directives as acts of communication: a randomized controlled trial. Archives of Internal Medicine, 161, 421–430. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinte.161.3.421
  • Ditto, P. H., Hawkins, N. A., & Pizarro, D. A. (2005). Imagining the end of life: On the psychology of advance medical decision making. Motivation and Emotion, 29, 475–496. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9017-x
  • Ditto, P. H., Smucker, W. D., Danks, J. H., Jacobson, J. A., Houts, R. M., Fagerlin, A., … Gready, R. M. (2003). Stability of older adults’ preferences for life-sustaining medical treatment. Health Psychology, 22, 605–615. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.22.6.605
  • Donaldson, W. (1992). Measuring recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121, 275–277. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.121.3.275
  • Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193146
  • García-Bajos, E., & Migueles, M. (2013). An integrative study of autobiographical memory for positive and negative experiences. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 16, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2013.103
  • García-Bajos, E., & Migueles, M. (2017). Retrieval of past and future positive and negative autobiographical experiences. Cognition and Emotion, 31, 1260–1267. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2016.1204988
  • García-Bajos, E., Migueles, M., & Aizpurua, A. (2017). Age-based positivity effects in imagining and recalling future positive and negative autobiographical events. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1700. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01700
  • Godwin, Y. (2000). Do they listen? A review of information retained by patients following consent for reduction mammoplasty. British Journal of Plastic Surgery, 53, 121–125. https://doi.org/10.1054/bjps.1999.3220
  • Gready, R. M., Ditto, P. H., Danks, J. H., Coppola, K. M., Lockhart, L. K., & Smucker, W. D. (2000). Actual and perceived stability of preferences for life-sustaining treatment. Journal of Clinical Ethics, 11, 334–346.
  • Johnson, M. K. (1997). Source monitoring and memory distortion. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 352, 1733–1745. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1997.0156
  • Kessels, R. P. (2003). Patients’ memory for medical information. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 96, 219–222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014107680309600504
  • Ley, P. (1979). Memory for medical information. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 18, 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1979.tb00333.x
  • McGuire, L. C. (1996). Remembering what the doctor said: Organization and adults’ memory for medical information. Experimental Aging Research, 22, 403–428. https://doi.org/10.1080/03610739608254020
  • Migueles, M., & García-Bajos, E. (2012). The power of script knowledge and selective retrieval in the recall of daily activities. The Journal of General Psychology, 139, 100–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.2012.663817
  • Onion, C. W. R., & Slade, P. D. (1995). Depth of information processing and memory for medical facts. Medical Teacher, 17, 307–313. https://doi.org/10.3109/01421599509008321
  • Ruttley, A., & Reid, S. (2006). Depression in physical illness. Psychiatry, 5, 89–92. https://doi.org/10.1383/psyt.2006.5.3.89
  • Schacter, D. L. (2012). Constructive memory: Past and future. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 14, 7–18.
  • Sharman, S. J. (2011). Current negative mood encourages changes in end-of-life treatment decisions and is associated with false memories. Cognition and Emotion, 25, 132–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931003612064
  • Sharman, S. J., Garry, M., Jacobson, J. A., Loftus, E. F., & Ditto, P. H. (2008). False memories for end-of-life decisions. Health Psychology, 27, 291–296. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.27.2.291
  • Snodgrass, J. G., & Corwin, J. (1988). Pragmatics of measuring recognition memory: Applications to dementia and amnesia. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 117, 34–50. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.117.1.34
  • Stenzel, N. M., Vaske, I., Kühl, K., Kenn, K., & Rief, W. (2015). Prediction of end-of-life fears in COPD–hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Psychology & Health, 30, 1017–1034. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2015.1014816
  • Szpunar, K. K., Addis, D. R., & Schacter, D. L. (2012). Memory for emotional simulations: Remembering a rosy future. Psychological Science, 23, 24–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611422237
  • Templer, D. I. (1970). The construction and validation of a Death Anxiety Scale. The Journal of General Psychology, 82, 165–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.1970.9920634
  • Van Wijmen, M. P. S., Pasman, H. R. W., Widdershoven, G. A., & Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D. (2014). Motivations, aims and communication around advance directives: A mixed-methods study into the perspective of their owners and the influence of a current illness. Patient Education and Counseling, 95, 393–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2014.03.009
  • Walker, W. R., & Skowronski, J. J. (2009). The Fading affect bias: But what the hell is it for? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23, 1122–1136. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1614